David Coggins, writer, angler, and culture icon, is someone worth knowing. His writing on topics ranging from men’s fashion and travel to fly fishing and art has appeared in publications including the Financial Times and Esquire, and his newsletter, The Contender, is beloved by many. In 2021, Coggins published his book “The Optimist: A Case for the Fly Fishing Life,” which received critical acclaim and quickly became a favorite for anglers of all ages.
Coggins’ most recent book, “The Believer: A Year in the Fly Fishing Life,” tells fly fishing stories from all corners of the globe in his humorous and engaging style. The book is available now, so do yourself a favor and head to your local bookstore before it sells out.
Flylords: Who is David Coggins? Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do?
Coggins: I’m David Coggins, I’m a writer who lives in New York. I’ve written a few books about fly fishing, the latest of which is The Believer. I contribute to magazines and have a newsletter, The Contender, which is about travel, men’s style, design, and, of course, fishing too.
Flylords: What did your early life look like?
Coggins: I grew up in Minneapolis, and our family has a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin, which is where I learned to fish. I love that place and still go there every summer. It’s the antidote to New York. I can grill outside and be on the water every day.
My parents are creative people, and our house was full of books and art—and when I say full, I mean full. I didn’t quite realize how full our house was until friends came over and pointed this out. Growing up, my sister and I went to museums and plays, and that felt very natural.
My family loves the outdoors, but I should say that nobody else is remotely into fishing. I’m allowed to tell fishing stories, but they should be under a minute.
I went to college in Maine and then lived in Tokyo for a year (where I was one of the least distinguished English teachers). Then I moved to New York and have been there ever since. But for me, the only way to survive New York after a few decades is to escape it, and I go to the Catskills a lot to fish.
Flylords: How long did you know you wanted to be an author? What led you to publish your first work(s)?
Coggins: I’ve always cared about writing and literature. I think some parents would be concerned if their son wanted to be a writer, but not mine. My father edited my homework—he denies this—but he was very aggressive with his editing. He held me to a high standard even though I was young. I could stay up past my bedtime to make my work better, which was actually not fun at all. But I really think it made me a better writer even at a young age.
Flylords: Can you recount any early influences/ mentors you felt were important to where you are now?
Coggins: On the angling front, there were two men who lived on the lake where our cabin is, Carter and Dave. I’ve written about them before. They were great anglers, and I learned so much from them. They were friends of my grandfather’s. All of them have passed on, but I still think about them a lot.
I was lucky to meet some great editors when I was starting to write in New York. The late great Glenn O’Brien was a wonderful writer and editor, and he taught me so much about how to live in New York.
Flylords: What subjects did you enjoy writing about when you were getting started? When did fishing make its way in?
Coggins: When I began, I wrote just about art. That was a good situation. But I wanted to write about more things I cared about. Travel, tailoring, whisky. Finally, I pitched the idea to Owen Phillips, a great editor who also taught me a lot. I asked Owen if I could write a story about fishing Silver Creek in Idaho, for Men’s Vogue, of all places. And that was the first fishing story I ever wrote. Later, Paul Croughton, the editor of Robb Report, asked if I wanted to write about fishing for the magazine. That was a dream.
Flylords: How big of a role did fishing play in your life at the beginning of your career? Did that level of involvement increase or decrease as you progressed as an author?
Coggins: It was a big decision to write about fishing, because I’m not some crazy technical expert. I’m an enthusiastic amateur. I’m definitely not inventing new flies or offering casting advice. I try to communicate what I love about the sport—the pleasures of being outside, the anticipation of arriving on the water, and being connected to a fish. But also the things that go wrong. And they go wrong a lot! And I try to capture that part of the sport too. It’s not all glory by any means.
Flylords: Leading up to publishing “The Optimist,” a renowned book amongst anglers, what did your process look like when putting together the contents that would ultimately become the book?
Coggins: Writing that book was a big step for me because there are so many great books about fishing. I realized that if something matters to you, if it’s a big part of your life, then you should write about it. So I started to think about how that came to be, how fishing became a wonderful obsession. I traced that back to our cabin in Wisconsin, then the road trips I took out to Montana, where I really fell in love with the sport. Then to the wonderful flats in the Bahamas and the incredible bonefish. I realized there was this progression of obsession and travel. And there’s a wonderful learning curve with fishing. You try to catch a new fish and have to learn so many things over again, and you make mistakes you thought were behind you. And that’s part of the pleasure of the sport—coming to learn new skills and then testing them on the water.
Flylords: Looking now to the present day, at your new book, The Believer, what would you say was the main reason you wanted to write this book? What are you hoping readers will take away from it?
Coggins: Well, the pandemic was a big part of it. When you can’t leave your Manhattan apartment, you think about how you want to live. What are your priorities? How will you connect with the world when you can go back out into it? So I was thinking about where I wanted to fish. And also, what my life would be like if I couldn’t fish. Which will probably happen one day when I’m more settled down domestically. When you live with somebody and tell her you’re going fishing (again), she’s not always thrilled to hear that. So the book is about the balance between the fishing part of your life and the other, more responsible side of your life. And I’m interested in how people navigate that balance.
I think one lesson is that we should feel lucky when we’re on the water. And that doesn’t mean just on special trips. Most of my fishing, like everybody else, is done close to home. It’s wonderful to have a relationship with a river, to watch it through the seasons, to remember what happened in previous years, to think about who you fished with before. These things are all special, and we should be happy they’re in our lives.
Flylords: For fans of The Optimist, what would you say The Believer delivers that will be new, but also reminds people of why they got into your writing in the first place?
Coggins: Well, it’s more personal. I tried to be honest about what fishing means to me as I get older—I appreciate how lucky I am when I’m on the water. So I hope people connect to that openness. But there are also incredible settings, really great places to fish: Cuba, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Patagonia, and Belize. So if you’ve ever wanted to visit those places, I think you’ll find something in the book.
Flylords: Do you have a favorite chapter in The Believer?
Coggins: Well, I think Scotland was very cathartic. I’m really into Atlantic Salmon fishing, and my history with that fish is, well, it’s not good. I have really suffered at the hands of salmon, and I’m certainly not the first person that’s happened to! I love the country and the water there. And that chapter feels like one of the emotional high points of the book.
Flylords: What were some of the challenges that presented themselves when completing The Believer?
Coggins: Well, it can be hard to keep perspective about something soon after it happens. If you lose a permit, then the aftermath is not great. In fact, you might think about taking up a new sport—ha! But after a while, you have a better sense of what went wrong, though of course it still stings. I mean, I remember fish I’ve lost with extreme clarity, I’m sure we all do. I think the challenge is writing with a sense of immediacy about an experience while having a broader perspective.
Flylords: If you could give one piece of advice to artists who are trying to make their passion a full-time profession, what would it be?
Coggins: That’s a big question. I think you want to embrace the challenge of being an artist, writer, or whatever it is. This isn’t glamorous, but that’s all right. I’ve written for advertising and written for little money (or no money!) just to get work out in the world. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I think you try to do the best work you can, do a lot of it, and try to make a connection to people.
Flylords: What’s next for David Coggins?
Coggins: I’m starting to plan my next book, which will not be about fishing. That’s always an exciting and daunting time when a big project takes shape. I still write my newsletter, The Contender, every week, and that’s a good way to keep working on a regular basis. And I still write about fishing for magazines, so that’s something I always look forward to.
Thank you to David Coggins for taking the time out of his travels to sit down with us. David’s new book, The Believer, is on sale now. You can find your copy HERE, or wherever books are sold!
